free-associate
Americanverb (used without object)
Etymology
Origin of free-associate
First recorded in 1940–45
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In one of the most touching scenes about art and understanding, Souad is asked to free-associate over simple, hypnotic footage she shot at home of water filling a pail.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 24, 2023
Sometimes, he would free-associate about philosophy and literature; at other times, though, he would embroider his childhood experiences during the Depression into works of audio fiction.
From Washington Post • Dec. 13, 2022
When Midge enters show biz, her shtick, just like Rivers’s was, is to dress for a date, in a black dress and pearls, then free-associate truths about women’s lives.
From The New Yorker • Dec. 11, 2018
Sometimes, in “Spy of the First Person,” the words do not reverberate so much as hiccup and free-associate.
From New York Times • Dec. 6, 2017
Freud encouraged patients to tell their stories and got them to free-associate around their narrative to find out how they thought and felt about themselves.
From The Guardian • Apr. 24, 2016
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
